It's been a great year for mid-majors in college basketball, as the final four is set with two representatives, Florida Atlantic and San Diego State.
Kennesaw State Owls head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim captured his first conference title this year and gave Xavier a run before falling to the Musketeers in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. You would think that would make the Owls a hot commodity for Power 5 conference teams to schedule for the upcoming season. Unfortunately, that isn't the case.
Coach Amir sat in with Steak and Sandra on Monday morning's Steakhouse to break down what it's like for a mid-major to schedule a game against a Power 5 school, and why his team is finding it hard to get scheduled for the 2023-24 season.
"Its a partnership. You've got to be a team player. We're an everything school (KSU). Football has to play Georgia Tech. We have to go play San Diego State, Florida, VCU, and whomever else," Coach told Steak and Sandra about what goes into making a yearly schedule for a mid-major program.
That money, for example $90K for playing San Diego State, goes directly back into the athletic department, not just men's basketball.
Being a successful team this season and bringing back returning starters next season, Coach Amir knows it's going to get harder to find quality Power 5 teams that will schedule the Owls. "The year before (2021-22), [we] only won 13 games, but we still had 80 percent of our scoring coming back. That's why we had to go to Indiana and to San Diego State. Teams don't want to pay you 90 grand and lose."
As for next year's slate, Coach Amir says it's a little different that in previous seasons. "Our first two years, my schedule would be done by the end of May because I had everybody calling me saying 'Let's Play.'"
You can hear that audio from Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim below.